Seth Meyers Slams Fox News For Pushing Anti-LGBT "Bathroom Predator" Myth
- Because, as Seth Myers helps illustrate, for one Megyn Kelly deciding to act like a journalist, there are a myriad of others on Fox News who deliberately push lies. The only person who comes out looking good in the above interview is Megyn Kelly but you ever notice (and if I am wrong, please correct me), Fox News personalities will interview anti-lgbt pastors and pundits like Keith Ablow in one-sided messes, but has YET to have a credible medical professional or even a member of the transgender community on its network. At the very least, since the subject is about the transgender community, one would think that Fox News could have a representative of a transgender organization once or as many times as it pushes those who are opposed to the transgender community. Don't be fooled by the crumbs of a ridiculous interview created to distract us from how Fox News is running game against us all.

With his bill certain to fail, Bright was planning another way to advance his agenda Wednesday.

When
the state budget comes up for debate next week, Bright said he will try
to add a proposal to ban state aid to local governments that pass laws
requiring businesses to allow transgender people to use the bathrooms of
their choice. Local governments that require that are telling
businesses “how to run their restrooms,” he said.

Bright said he
has high hopes that his no-aid proposal will pass. “We’d rather have the
full bill, but we’ll take what we can get.”

Bright said Wednesday he would reintroduce his original transgender
bathroom bill next year if he wins re-election. Three Republicans are
challenging Bright in the June GOP primary.
“We’re not going to
sacrifice the privacy and safety of 99.7 percent of the population
because 0.3 percent is confused about their gender identity.”

That statement is also another flight of fancy from Bright. US Attorney Bill Nettles told the General Committee during testimony that there has been no cases of women being attacked because of men sneaking in bathrooms dressed as women. Clearly, Sen. Bright needs to accept the fact that he lost this round.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article74382392.html#storylink=cpyBright said Wednesday he would reintroduce his original transgender
bathroom bill next year if he wins re-election. Three Republicans are
challenging Bright in the June GOP primary.
“We’re not going to
sacrifice the privacy and safety of 99.7 percent of the population
because 0.3 percent is confused about their gender identity.”

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Jeff Ayers, SC Equality Executive Director, just sent out the following release:

Today was a historic day in South Carolina as Sen. Lee
Bright's discriminatory, unnecessary and economically ill-advised
"bathroom bill," S.1203, was officially stopped for the year.

Today was the final legislative day before "crossover" in the SC Senate -
where a bill needs to make it out of one body in order to be considered
by the other body. Because the Senate adjourned for the day without
taking up the bill at all, S.1203 is officially dead.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

The lgbt community of South Carolina and its allies just scored a HUGE victory. A bill which would have forced transgender men and women to use bathrooms and restrooms in accordance to the gender on their birth certificates failed to even get out of committee:

Three GOP senators on the Senate General Committee say they oppose
the transgender bathroom bill and a fourth said he is torn, a number
which likely means the bill is dead for the year.

Sen. Greg Gregory of Lancaster, Sen. Ray Cleary of Murrell’s Inlet and Sen. Paul Campbell of Goose Creek told The Greenville News Tuesday they are opposed to the bill.

Sen.
Lee Bright, the bill’s sponsor, said he needs nine of the 10 GOP
members of the 17-member committee to approve it in order for it to
advance to the floor. Democrats oppose the bill. If three GOP
members oppose it and a fourth is on the fence, the bill cannot come out
of committee.

“I don’t think the bill is going anywhere,” Sen. Joel Lourie, a Columbia Democrat and one of the bill’s main opponents, told The News. “I can tell you it’s dead.”

Ever since Bright proposed the bill, which mimics several which have been and are now being discussed across the nation, its passage didn't look to be a sure thing. People on both sides of the political spectrum voiced opposition to it. Gov. Nikki Haley said that the bill was not needed. Some people were wary of passing the bill because of the severe backlash which North Carolina is now facing over a similar bill it passed, which not only targeted the transgender community, but also prohibited NC cities and towns from passing pro-lgbt non-discrimination ordinances.

NC GOP AG Candidate Tells HB2 Fans: 'Keep Our State Straight!' (VIDEO) - And he, state Sen. Buck Newton, said this at a rally supporting that awful anti-lgbt law, HB2. After spilling all of the lies about "predators in the women's restrooms, he let this Freudian slip come out. It astounds me how folks still think that this issue is about safety rather than anti-lgbt animus and payback because we earned the right to marry.

Friday, April 22, 2016

WATCH: Ted Cruz Releases New Transphobic Ad Calling Trump The 'PC Police'- I'm going to make this as simple as I can - And with his latest ad which severely demonizes the transgender community, Ted Cruz continues to demonstrates himself to be manipulative, blood-sucking demagogue who doesn't care what lie he tells or who he hurts in pursuit of his goals. Frankly, the nation would be in more danger with him in the White House than a little girl would be in a public restroom with transgender woman.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

I once said that I would not put the following pic on my blog. I apologize for breaking that vow but a point needs to be made.

The above disgusting pic, along with a vicious anti-transgender rant is the main reason why ESPN fired sportscaster Curt Schilling. As you can see, it's an ugly, paranoid, and very inaccurate take in support of these various "bathroom bills" some state legislators have been attempting to pass.

Of course the figure above is not reflective of a transgender woman. It is the manifestation of anti-transgender hysteria of what a transgender woman would be. It is no more real than the characterizations of African-Americans or Jewish people seen below:

But you can't tell that to conservatives and members of the evangelical right, such as Ted Cruz, Todd Starnes, Sean Hannity, etc. To them, the victim of the entire incident is not the transgender community, who have to deal with yet another person putting their mental and physical health in danger and accusing them of being predators.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

So many folks don't want Bright's bill to become law, but he doesn't care.

You can now officially mark various South Carolina businesses in the column with Gov. Haley, the lgbt community, Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, the mayors from Greenwood, Florence, and Columbia, and US attorney Bill Nettles, and various others opposing State Sen. Lee Bright's anti-transgender "bathroom bill."

A dozen S.C. business groups sent a letter Tuesday to the General
Assembly asking legislators to halt consideration of a controversial
Senate bill that would ban transgender men and women from using the
bathrooms of their choice.

“The Palmetto State has built a
reputation as a welcoming place for world-class companies to call home.
People are taking notice of South Carolina for all the right reasons,”
said the letter
signed by “The South Carolina Business Community.” If the bill moves
forward, “make no mistake that it will have direct impact on South
Carolina jobs and job prospects.”

North Carolina has been hit with boycotts by businesses and musical acts since passing a similar law last month.

Unfortunately, Sen. Bright, the bill's sponsor, seems to be deliberately oblivious to this letter as he was to the emotional testimony (particularly from transgender youth) against the bill in committee last week or Gov. Haley's disapproval of the bill.

Now, according to The Greenville News, Senator Bright is going to
attempt to "poll" the bill out of Committee by having the Chairman issue
a secret poll vote that is not done in public. That the Committee would
hold two days of public testimony, inflaming thousands across our
state, moving people to tears and shocking our nation and then not even
vote on the bill publicly is nothing short of unconscionable.

I told myself I wouldn't post on this, but it has to be seen to be believed.

This guy on youtube, who is supposed to be popular but I've never heard of him, named Joey Salads created a video experiment which he claims demonstrates that transgender women using the ladies restroom is not a good idea because women are uncomfortable around them.

From what I understand, some conservatives are giving him many props for the above video. When I look at it, I have to ask why.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

According to Mediaite, Christian singer and actor Pat Boone is absolutely furious over the Saturday Night Live sketch which aired last week.

The sketch made fun of the idea that Christians are being "persecuted" in America and "religious liberty" laws via a parody of the now playing movie God's Not Dead 2:

Boone talked to The Hollywood Reporter about it, and he was not amused by the supposedly anti-Christian satire.

“Something can be devilishly funny, but this skit is
diabolical. God has only one real enemy — Satan. Satan ridicules faith,
and they’re taking Satan’s side.

Boone went on to say that God has a sense of humor and that he used to enjoy SNL
in the past, but the show’s new parody and recent “filthy” programming
have crossed the line for him. He also called anti-semitism on the show
for having a Jewish lawyer represent the gay couple as they try to stuff
the gay agenda down the baker’s throat.

“This skit was outright sacrilege. They know if they did this to
Muslims they’d have to be put into the witness protection program,”
Boone said. “There’s nothing sacred at SNL, except maybe the
words ‘Mohammad’ or ‘Allah.’ They’d never take those names in vain, but
when they called God a ‘boob man,’ they took his name in vain.”

Of course in his eagerness to play the "they wouldn't dare do that to Muslims" card, Boone failed to note that, unlike Muslims in this country, evangelicals like himself are bringing mockery on themselves by their ridiculous persecution complexes fueled by what seems to an inaccurate idea of entitlement, i.e. this country is their birthright and the rest of us who don't believe as they do are only here because of their will and pleasure.

Boone and company are the ones making asses of themselves. SNL is merely pointing out that fact.

Raleigh Bureau: $3 Million Lost in LGBT Law Cancellations - So aside from the boycotts from businesses and entertainers like Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, etc, we see that the city of Raleigh has lost $3 million tourism dollars because of HB2. To be truthful, I don't like to hear about these money losses. It's sad that people in the state have to suffer because of the deliberate ignorance of their elected officials. But war is hell and the lgbt community certainly didn't start this one.

Family Research Council blaming media for disastrous defenses of anti-lgbt laws - My post from last night which deserves repeating, particularly this part - "Lastly, I want to mention that talking point of painting those who oppose HB2 as hypocrites because they don't speak out against those (such as Bruce Springsteen, Paypal, etc.) who supposedly do business in countries which have awful human rights records against lgbts. FRC until just recently itself utilized Paypal to garner donations. The organization only began figuratively declaring war on Paypal after the organization boycotted NC. Also, how can FRC cry foul over any country's negative human rights record against lgbts, seeing that it once vouched support for Uganda's anti-lgbt laws."

Monday, April 18, 2016

The Family Research Council is playing a game of defense for the anti-lgbt laws passed in North Carolina and Mississippi.

In spite of a disastrous weekend featuring two interviews in which NC Gov. Pat McCrory bungled a one-on-one on Meet The Press and FRC president Tony Perkins himself got called out by the interviewer for his homophobia, FRC still wants to live in a universe where these discriminatory laws are right and the "left" are going after them with lies. And how does the organization do this? By playing the "biased liberal media" card:

It's amazing with technology like ours that people still refuse to take a
few minutes to read for themselves a bill like North Carolina's. With
the facts just a click away, there's no excuse for the liberal media to
continue misrepresenting H.B. 2. Yet that's exactly what they're doing
-- almost a month after Governor Pat McCrory (R-N.C.) signed the bill
into law. Unfortunately, the truth about the measure -- that it gives
businesses the freedom to set their own bathroom policies -- doesn't fit
the Left's narrative. So they ignore it.

Just yesterday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Chuck Todd took his
interview with McCrory down a familiar path, distorting the most basic
aspects of the law. "Does it bother you," Todd said at one point,
"that basically North Carolina and Mississippi is the only other state
to side with you on this?" For starters, McCrory stopped him,
Mississippi passed a religious liberty law -- not a privacy measure.
Secondly, he fired back, a lot more states agree with North Carolina
than don't. "This is not just a North Carolina debate. This is a
national debate that's just come on in literally the last three
months... We have 29 states that also don't have this type of mandate on
private business, including the state of New York [one of its most
vocal opponents]."

Sunday, April 17, 2016

NC Gov. Pat McCrory wasn't the only one over the weekend tripping over himself in a sad attempt to defend anti-lgbt discrimination. Anti-lgbt hate group head Tony Perkins (of the Family Research Council) found himself attempting to defend Mississippi's law which allows businesses to deny services to lgbts. Although he tried to make it seem that it "merely" protects those who do not agree with gay marriage equality, the person interviewing him, Fernando Espuelas, wasn't letting him get away with that subterfuge. Espuelas allows Perkins to make his case and then points out the fallacies. Most importantly, Espeulas demonstrates that there is nothing wrong with an interviewer calling out a guest's homophobia instead of creeping around it:

Internet pioneer
and television host Fernando Espuelas called out Family Research
Council President Tony Perkins over the weekend for supporting anti-LGBT
laws throughout the U.S. "specifically" for the purpose of
discriminating against minority groups.

On his Matter of Fact talk show, Espuelas noted that Perkins
had supported multiple co-called "religious freedom" laws in the past
and was currently backing a North Carolina law limiting the bathroom
rights of transgender people.

Perkins argued that the North Carolina law was a "public safety
bill," and that broader laws in states like Mississippi prevented the
government from "penalizing" Christians for refusing to serve LGBT
people.

Espuelas, however, pointed out that "the idea that someone who has a
business license can then discriminate against one group or another is
something that was put to rest in the 1960s."

"We're talking about forcing someone to take their creative ability,
their talent and force them," Perkins insisted. "This is almost forced
servitude, saying that you have to be a part of this or the state is
going to punish you."

"That's essentially the same argument as segregation," Espuelas stated.

Perkins disagreed: 'We're talking about marriage. That is a sacred
institution. Just three years ago the president had the same view."

"But he didn't have the view that people should be discriminated
against," Espuelas said. "How is it not discrimination if you pick one
group, a specific group of people and have different rights for them?
How is that not discrimination?"

Friday, April 15, 2016

Whether offensively showcased by rabid homophobes like Peter LaBarbera or Tony Perkins or slickly alluded to and implied with "religious liberty" and "bathroom bill" laws and politicians like NC Gov. Pat McCrory or Sen. Ted Cruz, it all adds up to the same thing.

LIES TOLD IN THE NAME OF CHRISTIANITY, FAMILY, AND VALUES

And it wont stop until lgbts make it a point to take it seriously enough to declare war on it.

Editor's note - Due to a work emergency, today's news briefs may not be posted.

Today is the annual GLSEN Day of Silence in which students across the nation bring attention to the problem of anti-lgbt bullying in schools. This year is very poignant because lgbts, particularly transgender students, are being targeted with awful "religious liberty" and "bathroom legislation" around the country.

With that in mind, the following video asks a very pertinent question.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

The State newspaper is describing today's subcommittee hearing on that awful anti-transgender bill proposed by SC Sen. Lee Bright as one in which opponents of the bill outnumbered those who favored it.

In truth, it was downright embarrassing for supporters of the bill. Aside from a letter from Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, testimony from former State Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum, the mayors from Greenwood, Florence, and Columbia, and US attorney Bill Nettles all opposing the bill, the crowd, which overflowed out of the room, heard from two transgender teens who would be affected should the bill become law:

Grayson, 13, and Dex, 13, sat before Bright and his fellow committee members during Wednesday's hearing.

Grayson,
a female-to-male transitioning teen, recounted his story of having to
go to the nurse's bathroom to avoid having to answer questions about
his identity.

"All I want is to be able to use the men's restroom
with the rest of my non-transgender peers, but this doesn't happen and
it won't happen if this bill is passed," Grayson said. "The people
introducing this bill are victimizing the innocent. When I enter a men's
bathroom, I just want to use the facilities, wash my hands and leave. I
do not deserve to have my gender identity washed away like a
fingerprint on a windowpane. I do not deserve to have the person I am
replaced by someone I don't want to be. I do not deserve to be forced to
use a restroom where I do not feel safe."

Grayson also called
out supporters of the bill, saying none of them understood what it was
like to prove themselves and who they are constantly.

"We were
brought into this world to live, not to be targeted by people who don't
know what it's like to be born in a shell that doesn't match your
interior spirit," Grayson said.

Supporting the bill were fewer witnesses, including former Richland County Councilman Cameron Runyan. And while the subcommittee hearing was going on, USC students held a rally outside the State House against the bill.

Unfortunately, according to WIS-TV, the testimony against the bill did not move Bright.

"I am sympathetic," Bright said. "There are situations addressed in the
bill that if someone wants to change their sex, they can change it if
they want to do that, but I think if a woman and a female child want to
use the restroom, then they shouldn't have to deal with the fact that a
man has a right to walk in there because he identifies as that gender
that day."

A local blog, FitsNews, gave a theory as to why Bright is pushing the bill. And this theory has nothing to do with public safety. The site claims that Bright is in a tough re-election and it attempting to shore up the conservative base:

Bright’s proposed “Bathroom Bill” isn’t
about his moral convictions regarding transgenders. Nor is it about any
issue or ideology. It’s about a vulnerable State Senator looking to
collect data and raise money for his upcoming reelection fight – while
shoring up his socially conservative (far) right flank.

There is more testimony to be heard tomorrow. But according to The State, the bill has little chance of becoming law. An opponent, Sen. Joel Lourie has vowed to do whet he can to kill the bill via procedure. In addition, Gov. Nikki Haley has also said she doesn't support the bill.

Editor's note - The subcommittee hearing on that awful anti-transgender bill in South Carolina will be wrapping up soon and I no doubt will have a report to go on about it later. But from reading twitter updates, this hearing is seriously the most lopsided thing I've seen since that movie 'Bambi vs. Godzilla.' Just call the lgbt community 'Godzilla.' They brought three mayors, a former secretary of Education, a US attorney AND transgender South Carolinians and their families to all testify against the bill.
It doesn't matter whether or not the bill may have been doomed from the get-go. South Carolina's lgbt community, leaders, and allies deserve special praise for not coming to the hearing without their "A game" and also bringing a "Dream Team." What they did is a perfect example of what the lgbt community needs to do when faced with lies and inequality . . . every time.

SC House leader says no time for transgender bill - Because one of the sponsors is chairman of today's subcommittee, the bill is expected to go to full committee. And there it may just die for a number of reasons. I ain't celebrating until it's officially dead.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Sen. Lee Bright is catching flack from all sides for his transphobic bill.

In reading the following news report from news channel WYFF4 NBC I think it would be safe to assume the anti-transgender bill proposed in South Carolina by Sen. Lee Bright is very unpopular.

Are you sitting down? If so, then proceed to read:

The three Republican candidates who are vying for Sen. Lee Bright's
state senate seat in District 12 are using Bright's recently introduced
"Bathroom Bill" as ammunition against him.

"I do not believe the bill is needed here in South Carolina," businessman and Senate candidate David McCraw
said during a news conference. "I agree with the South Carolina Chamber
of Commerce when they said, 'Sen. Bright is trying to create a
political crisis that doesn't exist to save his political career.'"
Bright's bill, S. 1203,
would assign the use of bathrooms according to "biological sex" instead
of gender identification. It would prevent local governments from
creating ordinances that allow transgender people to use the bathrooms
of their choice.

Other candidates who are running for Bright's seat also oppose his bill.

"The
transgender bathroom ordinance being pushed by special interests has no
place in South Carolina," Republican Senate candidate Scott Talley
said. "While I agree with Senator Bright in opposing a transgender
bathroom ordinance, his proposed law is redundant and unnecessary."

"We don't want to do anything to jeopardize economic development in South Carolina," Republican Senate candidate Lisa Cooley Scott said. "(Bright) is jumping on the bandwagon to grab headlines, because he has done nothing in the Senate."

A Senate committee hearing on the bill is Wednesday morning and according to ABC News Channel 6, a Democrat Senator, Joel Lourie, said that he will do everything in his power to block it.

That should be interesting, seeing that the chair of the committee, Sen. Kevin Bryant, a co-sponsor of the bill, said that he intends to advance the bill forward even if the subcommittee doesn't approve.

The irony of that is all of this bickering could be moot. Gov. Nikki Haley has already said that the bill is not needed in South Carolina and the speculation is that if the bill is passed, she may veto it.

Nevertheless, regardless of the reasons why (and many of them definitely aren't noble), I never thought I would EVER live to see the day when Republicans in South Carolina attack another Republican for being unnecessarily mean to the lgbt community.

Bryant says transgender bill to advance regardless - So in spite of tomorrow's hearing on that awful anti-transgender bill in South Carolina, Sen. Kevin Bryant, chairman of the Senate General Committee, is determined to push it through EVEN IF the subcommittee does not approve it. It means two things - this bill is not popular with hardly anyone including Gov. Haley and such an action would shift the public perception that the bill is needed for safety. If the bill needed for safety, then why would there be a need to force it through.

Hearing puts spotlight on SC transgender bathroom bill - And speaking of tomorrow morning's hearing, forget the hype about Superman vs. Batman because THIS is going to be the event. Those opposing the bill will include Steve Benjamin, the mayor of Columbia. And who are supporting the anti-transgender bill have acknowledged hat there have been no reports of women's safety being jeopardized. That's probably why Sen Bryant going to attempt to force it through.

Tennessee Passes Anti-LGBT Counseling Bill - If the Gov signs this bill, medical health professionals will be able to reject lgbt patients because of "religious beliefs." This is why the religious right won't tell where the line has to be drawn with these so-called "religious liberty" laws. They want to get away with as much as they can. One wonders how they are going to spin this one.

Monday, April 11, 2016

The above video from Media Matters reminds us of an important factor in the passage of that awful anti-lgbt law in Mississippi - A propaganda network with no accountability which peddled in the false "Christian are being persecuted" argument while simultaneously featuring anti-gay talking heads and giving them the ability to spout lies without challenge or debate.

Fox News has long touted the stories of a handful of anti-gay photographers, bakers, and florists who
refused to provide services to same-sex couples and were then sued for
violating nondiscrimination ordinances. In regular segments that Fox
dubs the “Fight for Faith,” the network often sides with for-profit businesses -- like an Idaho wedding chapel -- to claim that the Christian business owners are being persecuted by the government or LGBT activists . . .

Fox News employees have even written books devoted to the anti-LGBT
Christian persecution myth. In 2014,Fox News’ anti-gay mouthpiece and serialmisinformer Todd Starnes went on a publicity tour for his book God Less America, which details
“real stories from the frontlines of the attack on traditional values.”
This February, Fox News contributor and prominent conservative media
figure Erick Erickson released a book You Will Be Made To Care, The War on Faith, Family And Your Freedom To Believe, which explores how the "leftist-homosexual mafia" is waging a "war on Christians.” Conservative media’s misinformation campaign
framing Christians as “victims” of discrimination is part of a larger
effort by anti-LGBT activists seeking to pass “religious freedom” laws.
With Fox News providing the “Fight for Faith” stories to lay the
groundwork for laws like Mississippi’s, anti-LGBT organizations can
continue their national push for laws that protect anti-LGBT discrimination.

So after we defeat the laws like the one in Mississippi - and we will - what are we going to about Fox News? And wistful thoughts of their male personalities being caught on their knees in public restrooms is not an option. So please don't introduce that as some type of solution.

'Nation Embracing Sin': Franklin Graham Goes on Twitter Rant to Defend North Carolina Anti-LGBT Law - Franklin Graham is a demagogue and a dangerous fool, but he has just done the lgbt community a favor with his egotistical tweets. Here is the question and it will be addressed in court - if you feel that something is a sin (in this case being an lgbt), is it right to create a false moral panic, lies, and laws to suppress said "sin?" Graham seems to think yes. With no proof that women and girls would be harmed by transgender folks using bathrooms and locker rooms of the gender identity they define for themselves and with no way of explaining why should lgbts be denied anti-discrimination protection, that should be the question we need to demand from the courts.

Anti-LGBT group from U.S. holds Barbados conference - Reason why have to start taking these folks seriously. If you are, then educate others. Worldwide groups with many connections and lots of money whose goal is the suppression of lgbt equality. Would be a James Bond movie if it weren't true.

Thursday, April 07, 2016

Yesterday I posted about the plans of SC Republican State Senator Lee Bright to introduce an anti-lgbt bill similar to the one passed recently in North Carolina. For now, it doesn't look like the bill is very popular. Gov. Nikki Haley (a Republican) has already voiced her disapproval of it. And today, Bright's bill was practically eviscerated on the Senate floor by Democrat Sen. Marlon Kimpson.

Kimpson didn't hold a thing back:

Kimpson, a Democrat, took to the floor of the Senate Thursday to
complain about gun reform bills not getting a hearing but then directed
his frustration at a bill introduced by Sen. Lee Bright, a Spartanburg
County Republican.

"Yesterday South Carolina sank to a new low,"
he told the Senate. "We're going to have the Lee Bright genitalia patrol
for bathrooms in South Carolina. That is the most blatant form of
intrusion, of discrimination of sexual orientation. Now we are becoming
the laughing stock in the nation because we are joining North Carolina,
Tennessee and Mississippi."

. . . Kimpson said Bright's bill has generated a hashtag, #peewithlee which is making "a mockery of the state."

"A
transgender person should use the restroom that corresponds to his or
her gender identity," he said. "Under peewithlee's Bright's bill, we're
now going to have the genitalia bill now checking birth certificates at
the restroom door. I can't imagine a more ridiculous bill."

According to GreenvilleOnline, the bill has a dim chance of passing. Let's cross our fingers.

Will South Carolina follow? Not likely with Haley in charge - More on SC's attempt to follow North Carolina's lead in passing an awful anti-lgbt bill. Further prediction that Republican Gov. Nikki Haley may be a stumbling block on the bill because of the negative economic blow back NC has been receiving.

Even More Executives Come Forward To Defend LGBT Rights- As nauseous as this backlash is, it could actually work in the favor of the lgbt community. We are able to create a dialogue on our issues, particularly issues involving our transgender brothers and sisters. Plus, the false mask of piety is slowly slipping off of the face of our opposition, revealing their base nastiness.

Wednesday, April 06, 2016

With its neighboring state of North Carolina catching all sorts of negative publicity and boycotts because of recently passed anti-lgbt law, one would think that South Carolina would steer far from that territory.

Unfortunately, those of us who live in SC know our legislators. Particular one state senator, Lee Bright.

South Carolina Sen. Lee Bright has filed a bill similar to a new North Carolina law that bars transgender people from using the bathroom associated with their gender identity.

Like the North Carolina law, Bright’s bill would also prevent cities and
counties from passing any laws of their own to protect transgender
people’s use of the bathroom. North Carolina’s law arose as a response
to a City of Charlotte ordinance.

Bright’s bill would force schools and state government to require people
only to use the bathrooms and locker rooms associated with their
"biological sex," which the bill defines as "the physical condition of
being male or female, which is stated on a person's birth certificate."

North Carolina has already seen serious fallout from HB2,
with PayPal dropping plans to expand in the state and the NCAA saying
it might not hold future tournaments there. A lawsuit against HB2 has
already been filed.

In comments about the bill on the Senate floor, Bright said he was upset North Carolina was "getting so much grief" over HB2.

"Apparently PayPal has shown its support for pedophiles by wanting them
to go into bathrooms," Bright said. "Men and women in public places
sharing bathrooms is just beyond me. ... I've about had enough of this. I
mean, years ago we kept talking about tolerance, tolerance and
tolerance, and now they want men who claim to be women to go in the
bathroom with children. And you got corporations who say this is OK."

Bright's statement is full of lies and his bill puts SC in dangerous position. But us lgbt South Carolinians have come to expect that from Bright. He just flat out doesn't like us. So much so that he can twist any situation into an attack on us.

Last year, after the terrible shooting at an African-American church in Charleston by a young racist which led to the deaths and injury of 10 people, including another state senator, the SC Legislature began steps remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds. It was a way for the state to symbolically heal after so many years of racial strife punctuated by that singular awful incident in Charleston.

Someone forgot to tell this to Sen. Bright. In an opening speech during the session to decide the fate of the flag, he not only railed against removing it,
but also attempted to shift the conversation by demanding that South
Carolina do something to "stop the sin" of gay marriage before the
nation is destroyed.

The following video leads me to ask just who is more of a danger to South Carolina - transgender men and women who only want some semblance of dignity and peace while conducting their lives. Or THIS GUY:

"We passed a law back in 1999 that dealt with religious liberty and it
basically reflected the federal law, and it works just fine," Haley
said. "In South Carolina, we are blessed because we don't have to
mandate respect or kindness or responsibility in this state, and that
law has worked perfectly."

About Me

Alvin McEwen is 46-year-old African-American gay man who resides in Columbia, SC.
McEwen's blog, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, and writings have been mentioned by Americablog.com, Goodasyou.org, People for the American Way, PageOneQ.com, The Washington Post, Raw Story, The Advocate, Media Matters for America, Crooksandliars.com, Thinkprogress.org, Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, Melissa Harris-Perry, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, The Washington Blade, and Foxnews.com.
In addition, he is also a past contributor to Pam's House Blend,Justice For All, LGBTQ Nation, and Alternet.org. He is a present contributor to the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post,
He is the 2007 recipient of the Harriet Daniels Hancock Volunteer of the Year Award and the 2010 recipient of the Order of the Pink Palmetto from the SC Pride Movement as well as the 2009 recipient of the Audre Lorde/James Baldwin Civil Rights Activist Award from SC Black Pride. In addition, he is a three-time nominee of the Ed Madden Media Advocacy Award from SC Pride.